ZOOLOGY 



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A YOUXi; /.KlIKA 



creature wound its trunk 

 round the neck of the 

 bottle, tilted it up, and 

 absorbed the contents. 

 For several weeks the 

 elephant throve, and be- 

 came a most delightful 

 pet. It would allow any 

 one to ride on its back, 

 and seemed to take plea- 

 sure and amusement in 

 this exercise. It would 

 find its way tln'ougli 

 diverse passages into my 

 sitting-room, not upset- 

 ting or injuring anything, 

 but deftly smelling and examining objects of curiosity with its trunk. 



At the same time we had in captivity a young zebra, which was also 

 to be the pioneer of a domesticated striped horse. These two orphans, 

 the elephant and the zebra, became greatly attached to each other, thouc^h 

 perhaps there was more enthusiastic affection on the ])art of the elephant, 

 the zebra at times getting a little bored with constant eml)races. Alas 

 and alack ! liotli elephant and zebra died eventually from the unwhole- 

 someness, to them, of cows' milk. Several other elephants of the same 

 age — that is to say, about four to six months old — were delivered into mv 

 hands, but all eventually died. Cows' milk a])pears to give these creatures 

 eventually an incurable diarrhcea, while all attempts at that earlv age to 

 substitute for milk farinaceous substances have also resulted in a similar 

 disease. I do not say that it is impossible to rear young elephants 

 by hand, for we have not made a sufficient number of experiments, but it 

 is very difticult. I therefore favour the })lan of attem]>ting to catch 

 elephants of perhaps a year old, at which age they do not require milk 

 as an exclusive diet. One specimen of this age was caught, and was readilv 

 tamed, and for aught I know is still alive in captivity. As to young 

 zebras, thev must be reared with asses as their foster-mothers. 



I am afraid that blustering creature, the rhinoceros, can be turned to 

 no useful purpose in the future of Africa, luit he is such a grotesque 

 survival from the great mammalian epoch that he should be steadily 

 preserved from extinction. The rhinoceros, however, is a handful, to use 

 a coUotiuialistn. All along the route of the I'ganda Railway game is being 

 carefully protected, with tlie agreeable result that antelopes, zebras, and 

 ostriches graze close to the line, as fearless of man as if they were in an 



